French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet traveling down
the Mississippi River
January 1st, 1673 - John Lawrence succeeds Matthias Nicolls as mayor of New York. He is elected for two years.
January
22nd, 1673 - Inauguration of the first regular postal service between Boston
and New York
The dispatch rider successively had to cross the towns
of New Haven, Hartford, Springfield, Brookfield, Worcester and Cambridge before
arriving to Boston, which was about 280 miles The run was made in two to three
weeks.
January 27,
1673 - Governor Francis Lovelace and the council of New York come back to the
ban on all the merchant ships to sail up the Delaware River beyond New Castle.
This resolution had been taken at the request
of the residents the city but the council considered it unfair due to the fact
that, on the other hand, ships were allowed to sail up the Hudson River to
Albany. All the boats were accordingly allowed to trade freely along the
Delaware.
February 5,
1673 – Having left New York on January 22nd, the first letter of the new mail service
arrives at Boston.
A woman named Sarah Knight, from Charlestown
soon became the first rider to provide service. This one however was to run only
a few months, before being suspended in the fall when the Dutch regained
control over New York.
 |
| Henry Bennet (1618-1685) 1st Earl of Arlington |
Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington (Little
Saxham (Suffolk),1618 - Euston (Suffolk), 1685) - He studied at Christ Church
College, Oxford with intent to turn towards an ecclesiastical career when he
chose to fight alongside King Charles I during the Civil War. Hit in the nose
in 1644 at Andover, he kept an impressive scar he got used to hide with
plaster. Bennet served the Stuart family in exile after Cromwell seized power
and Charles II sent him in 1657 as agent to Madrid. He stayed there until he
was appointed Secretary of State in 1662.
As head of the English foreign policy, he was
at the root of the triple alliance with Protestant Netherlands and Sweden but played jointly a
role in the signing of the secret 1670 Treaty of Dover between Charles II and
Louis XIV who had to ensure Catholic France the support of England in view of a
war against the Dutch. Created Baron Arlington in 1667, he inspired the party system
in the House of Commons by creating a first group of members of Parliament who
would give birth to the Tories.
Just when king Charles II granted him lands in
Virginia, Arlington was involved in a series of intrigues. Deserted by his
political friends, he was going to side with the Protestants and to reveal the
contents of the secret Treaty of Dover.
 |
| Thomas, Lord Culpeper (1635-1689) |
Once restored on the throne of England, Charles
II appointed Thomas Culpeper captain of the Isle of Wight, a position he
assumed from 1661 and that he honorably fulfilled until he causes a scandal
with the local elite by being seen with a mistress.
Forced to resign in 1668, he was appointed
three years later at the Council for Foreign Plantations the vice-president of
which he was soon to become.
March, 1673
- Governor William Berkeley draws attention to the shortage of weapons plaguing
Virginia to face a possible Dutch invasion and appeals directly to the king.
He demanded to be supplied with 50 large guns,
1000 muskets, so many pistols and swords as well as 40 powder kegs. He
specified that he could not afford to pay for what he asked but implemented
appropriate means to repel a Dutch aggression.
 |
| John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton (1602-1678) |
John Fenwick took possession of current
Cumberland and Salem Counties but Byllinge, suffering likewise from financial
troubles, would have to cancel his purchase. The three Quakers William Penn,
Gawain Lawrie and Nicholas Lucas were then appointed administrators of his
property, the time to find a solution.
Those responsible for the Society of Friends were
eager, then, to find in America a colony where they would have no fear of being
persecuted and could live within political and moral principles of their faith.
All the people would be free to practice their religion according to their
consciousness and would be equal under the law. In exchange, all should conform
to the values of work, honesty and spiritual fulfillment.
March 29,
1673 - the English Parliament passes a law called Plantation Duty Act, introducing
a tax on all the goods moving directly between the colonies without passing through
England.
This measure was the worst that could be imagined
for the economic development of the American colonies. The people of Albemarle
opposed it referring to weak port facilities that did not allow to load ships made
to cross the Atlantic Ocean towards England.
Two laws already framed navigation exchanges
between colonies and England but it was considered that illegal trade with Holland
took away an annual income over £ 10 000 from the English Treasury. Much of
this shortfall relating mainly to inter-colonial trade, it was decided to
impose a penny each pound of tobacco transported from colony to colony and to
tax it again in case of shipping to a country abroad.
The Navigation Act mainly applying in Virginia; the people of the region expressed unease with an outlay they
considered as harmful ahead. Even governor William Berkeley, long known for his
loyalty to the king, shared their opinion and was their spokesman.
March 29,
1673 - Governor Thomas Prence dies in Plymouth at age 74 while ending his
sixteenth successive term.
He had never ceased to fight against ignorance
and endeavored to raise funds to build schools, hoping that the next
generations would benefit from a good education. He had, among others,
participated in the founding of the city of Eastham in 1644 where he had moved
before returning to Plymouth fifteen years later after purchasing a big farm. Reluctant
to any form of religious tolerance and vowed enemy of the Quakers and Baptists,
he opposed during years with fierce determination the marriage of his daughter
Elizabeth with Zoeth Howland, the last son of Henry Howland, one of his strongest
opponents, but eventually caved to the resilience of the young couple. He however
managed to build up a strong trusting relationship with Wampanoag sachem
Massasoit. He was by the way credited with the authorship of the names Philip
and Alexandre given to his two sons.
April, 1673
- John Winthrop, Jr. is reelected governor of Connecticut.
April 14,
1673 - Governor Francis Lovelace and the council of New York create an
investigative commission to review the actions of Maryland in Hoornkill
district, an area under Delaware. Its mission is to resettle an administration
and officers under Duke of York's authority.
 |
| John Leverett (1616-1679) Governor of Massachusetts |
John Leverett (Boston (Lincolns.) 1616 - Boston
(MA) 1679) - From a Puritan family, he arrived in 1633 in the Massachusetts Bay
colony with his father Thomas and Reverend John Cotton. Although he was
admitted as member of the Church of Boston in 1639, he preferred to move
towards soldiering and got by the following year into the Ancient and Honorable
Artillery Company. He had started, at the same time, a successful business
career, what did not prevent him to leave in 1644 for England and enlist in the
parliamentary army where he received his first command. He had the opportunity
to stand out and met Cromwell who is said to have become his friend. Back in
Boston four years later, he resumed at first his foreign trade before being
elected member of the General Court of Massachusetts. This was the time when
Cromwell was planning an expedition against Dutch New Amsterdam that Leverett was
appointed captain in 1653 alongside his father-in-law Major Robert Sedgwick at
the head of a corps of 500 volunteers in charge of invading New Netherlands.
The peace signed in the meantime with Holland stopped the project and the
English authorities decided then to turn against the French settled in Acadia.
Sedgwick took possession of the province September 2nd, 1654 and Leverett was
entrusted the command of Acadian forts until 1657 when these were handed to
colonel Thomas Temple. It seems, however, that he never succeeded to get paid back
the expenses he had personally engaged during this mission. Back in Boston, he
was reelected to the General Court and upgraded major general of all the troops
in Massachusetts. He was deputy to Governor Richard Bellingham at the time of
his death.
It was during this term of office that was
passed a law banning dancing schools in Boston. A fencing school was, on the
other hand, created.
 |
| The Voyage of Marquette and Jolliet, 1673 |
The expedition was arranged at the request of
Louis de Frontenac, the governor of New France. The preparations lasted
throughout winter with the help of nomadic Indians who allowed to sketch the
first maps.
Jacques Marquette (Laon (France), 1637 - 1675) –
born in a burgess house from Champagne, he entered, at 17, the Society of Jesus
and showed, once ordained his desire to leave for mission towards distant
lands. He left La Rochelle in 1666 bound for Quebec and was sent to
Trois-Rivières where he began to learn Indian languages. He left two years
later to join Father Claude Dablon at Sault Sainte Marie of which depended about
2000 Algonquian Indians before founding his own mission on the Straits of
Mackinac (St Ignace) between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.
May, 1673 -
William Coddington is elected lieutenant governor of Rhode Island.
Aged 71, he was a founder of this colony in
1638 and had already been governor of Portsmouth and Newport between 1640 and
1647, then from 1651 till 1653. He had since befriended with George Fox that he
had hosted at his home in 1672 and joined the " Society of the Friends
".
May 17,
1673 - Explorers James Needham and Gabriel Arthur depart from the Falls of the Appomattox
in search of the south or west sea. They are working on behalf of General
Abraham Wood who is striving to widen his trade relations with Indians.
They reached the Little Tennessee during summer
and met the Tomahitan. They noticed with amazement that these Indians had guns with
a strange hammer, certainly supplied by the Spaniards, and spoke about
"whites" settled down river, who rang bells and lived in brick
houses.
The Tomahitan
had traded for a long time with the Spanish without maintaining with them
particularly friendly relations. They considered thereby the coming of these newcomers
as an opportunity to expand in turn their trading area.
Arthur chose to stay with the tribe to learn
its language whereas Needham took the way back. He was killed along the way
near the Yadkin River by an Indian named Occoneechee hired as a handler. James
Needham was perhaps the very one associated in Carolina to Dr Henry Woodward, a
specialist in trade with Indians.
Abraham Wood (1614-1682) - This English
officer nicknamed "General" or "Colonel", was initially
a fur trader and an explorer. He was given from 1646 the command of Fort Henry near
the falls of the Appomatox (current Petersburg), a place considered the choke
point between the colony of Virginia in the East and the western Indian
territories.
He began from the 1650 to sail up the James and
Roanoke Rivers then organized several expeditions among which, in 1671, that of
Thomas Batts and Robert Fallam to the far reaches of current West Virginia.
He sent his friend James Needham and his servant
Gabriel Arthur for a new expedition in search of the south sea. These reached Little
Tennessee where they were welcomed by Tomahitan. Back at Fort Henry on
September 10, Needham left a few days later to retrieve Arthur when he was
killed on the way by a member of his team. As for Arthur, remained among the
Indians, he was about to be slaughtered by the crowd before being rescued and
adopted by the village chief.
He thus lived almost a year among them and
accompanied them during their military expeditions against the Spaniards in
Florida and South Carolina where they fought a bloody battle against the
Westos, not far from the English colony of Royal Port and on the banks of the Ohio
River. Wounded, he was taken prisoner by Shawnee whom he explained the interest
that could be the trade of beaver pelts in exchange for which they could
receive knives, hatchets and other metal objects. Released, he was back to Fort
Henry on June 18, 1674.
June 3rd,
1673 - Josiah Winslow becomes the new governor of Plymouth. He succeeds Thomas
Prence who held this position for sixteen years. Winslow remains furthermore commissioner to the
United Colonies with Thomas Hinckley.
 |
| Josiah Winslow (1628-1680) Governor of Plymouth |
Thomas Hinckley (1618 – Barnstable, 1706) - He
had arrived in 1635 at Scituate with his parents before going to live in
Barnstable. He had therefore occupied several executive positions within the
Plymouth colony. Become deputy in 1645 then representative in 1647, he was a
magistrate since 1658.
It is noteworthy that his father and his aunt
appear among the ancestors of presidents George H.W. and George W. Bush as well
as President Barack Obama.
 |
| Father Marquette & Louis Jolliet carrying their canoe |
They had crossed Lake Michigan up to Green Bay,
then had sailed the Fox River up to Lake Winnebago. They had then headed to west
through a marshy area carrying their canoes over a distance of 50 miles before
reaching the Wisconsin River. They met there the Mascouten tribe (Nation of the
Fire), people of hunters and farmers of great hospitality and continued on
their way downstream to the confluence of the Wisconsin River and the
Mississippi near Prairie du Chien.
Then, they traveled several days through a game-rich
country rich but strangely deserted. While reaching the confluence of the Des
Moines River (River of the Monks after running some rapids and hit a huge
silurid, They made contacts at Kaskaskia with llinois Indians with whom
they were well received. They exchanged presents with them and were invited by
the chief Haïwatha to a meal made of corn, fish, roasted dog and wild ox. Their
hosts tried to deter them from going down the river because of the many dangers
that awaited them but both French explorers decided to continue their journey
southward.
Green Bay – called Baie des Puants by the
French because of the smell of its swampy waters, it was discovered by French
explorer Jean Nicolet during the summer, 1634 who founded a small trading post.
The region was originally inhabited by mysterious Winnebagos (literally the Men
of the Sea), people to matriarchal government whose language was akin to that
of the Sioux. They had been gradually absorbed by the Menominees (Wild Oats),
another peaceful tribe known for growing a grass crop close to wild rice.
During summer, 1670, Jesuit father Claude Allouez decided to found there the St
François Xavier mission (current De Pere) to bring Christianity to the Natives
of the western Great Lakes.
June, 1673
- John Culpeper, the general land surveyor of Carolina, leaves hastily Charles
Town with no apparent reasons. He thus falls under a law punishing with death
every person left without prior authorization of the governor and Council.
His unexpected departure put him in an awkward
situation and could leave the field to allegations according to which he had
been involved in a debt deal. One likely reason for his escape was because the
owners had initiated secret negotiations aiming at a division of Carolina. Yet, their interests could be threatened if he was actually the brother-in-law of William
Berkeley.
The sudden departure of John Culpeper might
seem even more surprising that he was a member of the South Carolina Assembly and
was a public figure. The fact remains that by a disturbing effect of chance,
other members of the assembly, debt-ridden, as Thomas Gray, John Robinson and
John Pinkerd had also fled in the same way.
July 12,
1673 - Thomas Gardner, captain of the HMS Barnaby and Edward Coterell captain of
the HMS Augustine manage to move away a Dutch squadron of nine warships headed
to Jamestown.
They were both prepared for this attack by
grouping in the mouth of the James River, a flotilla of 10 boats usually used
to transport tobacco. They had waited that the Dutch begin to sail up the river
to make a pincer attack on them while Governor Berkeley had positioned
militiamen on the banks. After strong exchanges of shots and the loss of four
boats, the English managed to raise doubts that the Dutch preferred to turn
back.
July, 1673
- Elected the previous year president of New Jersey, James Carteret is rejected
by his father George, the Lord Proprietor of the province and resigned. He
takes with his wife the boat for Carolina where he has been appointed landgrave.
 |
| Marquette & Jolliet sailing down the Mississippi River |
They
succeeded in negotiating with the Tuscaroras but now fear an attack of the Chicahas (Chicasaw) and the Quapaws, two Indian tribes used to trade with the Spaniards.
 |
| New York, 1673 |
The Dutch fleet, consisted of twenty-three
ships carrying nearly 600 men, had left the Caribbean in spring and sailed up
the American coast to challenge the English forces. After passing Chesapeake
Bay where it had gone after some trading ships from Virginia, it had cast
anchor two days before at Sandy Hook, a stone's throw away from New York. Governor Lovelace had, meanwhile, been visiting John Winthrop, Jr.,
his counterpart of Connecticut, in order to obtain his agreement for a project close
to his heart to build a road between New York and Boston. He had given the
command of the city to captain John Manning, an experienced soldier who was the
sheriff of New York since 1667. This one had a company of 80 men at his disposal
but he found himself, facing the Dutch threat, confronted with two major
problems: the defence systems of the city were, on one hand, outdated whereas a
wide part of the population did not hide its sympathies for the enemy.
Manning sent a message to the Dutch command
asking for the reason of this hostile arrival, what Admiral Evertsen answered he
had come to " take back what belonged to his country ". When Manning required
to be shown the mission orders, he was replied that they had been loaded in a
cannon and that the English would soon know the content if they did not
surrender.
Six hundred soldiers then landed on the west side
of Manhattan under Anthony Colve's command and walked to Fort St James
supported by a militia of about 400 armed people of Dutch descent. Captain
Manning decided to surrender four hours later.
After
this episode, Captain Manning left for England with his wife Bridget, who was to die during the journey. Arriving in London, he was harshly rebuked by the Duke of York
who wanted to give no credence to his argument. But aware that the English were
outnumbered, King Charles II appeased matters and Manning was dismissed from
his post without being sentenced.
The people of New York were enthusiastic. It
was as if they suddenly regained their freedom after suffering during nine
years the despotism of King Charles II and his brother the duke of York.
Governor Francis Lovelace was arrested by the
Dutch authorities from his return in New York and deprived of his properties.
He was thrown in jail, the time to take action on him.
Sir John Berry, the acting governor of New
Jersey, decided meanwhile to surrender to the Dutch and gave them
Elizabethtown. These forced the locals to swear allegiance and join the Reformed
Calvinist Church. This latter provision presented actually no problem insofar
as the Church of Holland and the Congregational churches of the colony belonged
to the same persuasion..
August 15,
1673 - the Dutch forces subject the towns of the Esopus region near the Hudson
River.
September
4, 1673 - Petronella, the wife of Captain John Carr who commands Delaware, comes
before the war council at Fort Willem Frederick (former Fort James in New York)
asking for her husband to be allowed to keep his position under Dutch
authority.
Her request was accepted on the condition that
John Carr beforehand took an oath in order to be considered as a loyal subject
and be able to enjoy his goods legally. Refusing to benefit the privileges
granted to him, he had rather to leave
the region and his property was accordingly seized.
September
5, 1673 – Lord Proprietor of New Jersey George Carteret receives in London the
petition sent to him in May by James Grover and John Bowne for defending the
rights granted to the Quakers on Navesink after the Nicolls patent.
It took almost four months to reach its
destination while the events had meanwhile unfolded rapidly. Carteret had, at
first, put away his son James in July, although elected president by the
assembly of the cities of New Jersey. The latter had since been captured by the
Dutch and abandoned on the coast of Virginia while he was on the way to
Carolina. Furthermore, the reoccupation of the province of New York by Holland
had, at least temporarily, curbed Carteret’s authority on New Jersey. But worse,
the disaffection of many settlers towards the owners was such that they took
the Dutch invasion for relief.
September
11, 1673 - Forced to leave New York, former Governor Francis Lovelace agrees to
be led in Holland.
September
12, 1673 - Representatives sent by the people of Delaware to the New Orange war
council present the query of their colony regarding the retention of their
privileges and freedoms they enjoyed before.
Their requests were reviewed and accepted by
the council. They kept in particular the right to trade freely with the Indians
and the Christians as well as their freedom of conscience. The Finns obtained over
the same rights as the Dutch, only the English having to swear allegiance to
the new authorities. They were, on the other hand, exempted from taxes until
1676 on liquors, wine and beer, as compensation for the costs resulting from
the restoration of the fort of New Castle (New Amstel).
September
19, 1673 - Captain Anthony Colve takes office as new governor general of New
York. He appoints councillor of Delaware Peter Alrich supervisor and commander
of the South River. This one promises in exchange to protect and assisted the
Reformed Church.
 |
Admiral Cornelis Evertsen, Jr Jacob Binckes
|
September
30, 1673 - Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet are back in St Françis Xavier
mission settled at the bottom of Green Bay.
They had followed the Mississippi River until the Illinois tribe which had indicated them a shorter way to reach Lake Michigan by going up Illinois and Chicago rivers. Having traveled 5358 km, Father Marquette, fallen ill, stopped to spend winter in the St Francis Xavier Mission (present-day De Pere, Wisconsin) while Jolliet set off to Montreal.
October 16,
1673 – New Director General Anthony Colve declares in a proclamation that Fort
James (renamed Fort Willem Hendrick) located on Manhattan became unusable because
of houses and gardens built against its walls. He asks their owners to leave in
return for compensation.
October,
1673 - Despite a lowered popularity and criticisms from all Virginia for his
laxity, Governor William Berkeley succeeds in holding a vote by the Assembly
for a law for modernizing the weapons of the militia.
It seemed initially improbable insofar the
Crown would make no effort to supply guns and the province coffers were
dramatically empty. Berkeley was also blamed for having left in ruins the
defenses of the colony while the Dutch threat was still present.
The estimated cost of this operation was entrusted
to officers. The amount actually proved far upper to any expenses incurred for
several years by the government of Virginia and it was intended to create a tax
imposed on all the owners. The Court was able to conduct its collection in
spite of several opposition movements from various Counties.
The situation in Virginia was yet more
dramatic. The British Parliament remained deliberately deaf in the concert of
complaints coming from the province and requesting relief from taxes imposed on
tobacco export. Added to that, 1673 had seen an outbreak carrying half the
livestock off while the Dutch had sunk a good part of the tobacco shipments
bound for England.
October 25,
1673 - Pierre Porteret, Jacques Largillier and Father Jacques Marquette leave St
Françis Xavier mission in Green Bay, Wisconsin, heading out to join the
Illinois Indians (Kaskaskias). They reach their first village (present-day
Chicago) on December 4, but can’t go farther because of dysentery that hits Father
Marquette while surprisingly noticing that some French people already live among
the tribe.
They were approximately 1500 men in this
village, besides women and children. The explorers spent winter there and left
in the next spring when they went down to the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi
Rivers.
November,
1673 - the government of Connecticut declares war on New Netherlands.
It had begun a month earlier when three cities
of Long Island had refused to swear allegiance to new governor Anthony Colve.
These had then asked for the protection of Connecticut. John Winthrop Jr. had hurried
to send a mail to the Dutch authorities asking them to show leniency but he had
faced a plea. A meeting followed on Shelter Island between Colve councilors and
the representatives of Connecticut led by young Fitz-John Winthrop, the governor’s
son and Samuel Willys. But it cut short when the Dutch saw the obvious that English
forces were far superior in numbers.
 |
| Fitz-John Winthrop (1367-1707) |
November,
1673 - After five months spent without giving news, John Culpeper makes his
reappearance at Albemarle.
He quickly entered the political factions which
divided the colonists, choosing the party of the founding owners led by acting
governor John Jenkins. The other party included the new owners under the
direction of president of the assembly Thomas Eastchurch. Hostilities were looming.
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